A rare example of a jester facing execution and all the more exceptional for having the ruler about to strike the fatal blow himself. Equally astonishing is the quick-wittedness to come up with a pun which made the emperor laugh and so commute the death sentence. This is a new angle on gallows humour – having the cool-headedness and psychological acuity to talk your way out of imminent execution.
You can imagine the emperor, despite a fit of fury, being nevertheless intrigued enough by the initial comment to hold fire and hear out the jester. Tang Zhuangzong 唐莊宗(r. 923-26), having been enraged by the joking insolence of his jester Newly Polished Mirror (Jing Xinmo 鏡新磨):
… drew his bow, aimed his arrow and was about to shoot him. Newly Polished Mirror shouted urgently, `Don’t kill me Your Majesty, we are of the same mettle you and I and it would be unpropitious for you to kill me!’ The emperor was astonished and asked him what he meant, so he answered, `When you founded your dynasty, you changed the reign title to Unifying Splendour [Tong Guang] and all under heaven called Your Majesty the Emperor of Unifying Splendour. `Unifying’ [tong] equals `bronze mirror’ [tong]. If you kill Newly Polished Mirror, the bronze mirror [tong] will lose its shine [guang]!’ The emperor burst out laughing, and forgave him.
彎弓注矢將射之，新磨急呼曰：「陛下無殺臣！臣與陛下為一體，殺之不祥！」莊宗大驚，問其故，對曰：「陛下開國，改元同光，天下皆謂陛下同光帝。且同，銅也，若殺敬新磨，則同無光矣。」莊宗大笑，乃釋之。
Source: `Lingguan zhuan’ 伶官傳, in Xin Wudai shi 新五代史 (The Historical Records of the Five Dynasties), by Ouyang Xiu 歐陽脩 (1007-72) and others, fol. 37, Siku Quanshu 四庫全書 (Shanghai: Guji Chubanshe, 1987), vol. 279.
Photo credit: PaulSBarlow at pixabay
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